My First Experience of Morocco

When I was 4-years-old traveling with my parents in Spain, we took a day trip to Tangiers, Morocco.  Although I barely have any memory of the day and the craziness that my parents told me about, I do remember very clearly the highlight of that day.  We had been walking for a very long time when we came to a crowd gathered around a man with a clarinet-like instrument and a tall basket with a lid on top.  As he began to play a snake appeared from the basket slithering along to the rhythm of the music.  The crowd began slightly backing away as the man approached and selected people from the crowd to join him in the middle of the circle.  I woman was dragged in the circle with a whimpering sound, and suddenly the man approach me, took my arm, and dragged me into the circle as my parents and brother just stood there watching.  I stood there disgruntled with my arms crossed in my red and white checkered dress and hair in a high ponytail with a red bow.  The snake charmer continued to upset me as he placed the snake around my neck like a scarf as I let out a loud cry.
Now 15 years later, I come back to Morocco to study Arabic with this memory in the back of my mind.  I have yet to have a snake put around my neck but there are other adventures soon to come and I hope to visit Fez and Menkes this weekend with a friend.